Issue |
Natl Sci Open
Volume 1, Number 2, 2022
|
|
---|---|---|
Article Number | 20220002 | |
Number of page(s) | 11 | |
Section | Information Sciences | |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1360/nso/20220002 | |
Published online | 20 May 2022 |
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Indirect effects among biodiversity loss of mutualistic ecosystems
1 School of Artificial Intelligence and Automation, Key Laboratory of Image Processing and Intelligent Control, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
2 State Key Lab of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
3 Department of Electrical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
* Corresponding author (email: zht@mail.hust.edu.cn)
Received:
7
December
2021
Revised:
21
January
2022
Accepted:
16
February
2022
Drastic reduction in biodiversity has been a severe threat to ecosystems, which is exacerbated when losing few species leads to disastrous and even irreparable consequences. Therefore, revealing the mechanism underlying biodiversity loss is of uttermost importance. In this study, we show that abundant indirect interactions among mutualistic ecosystems are critical in determining species’ status. Combining topological and ecological characteristics, we propose an indicator derived from a dynamic model to identify keystone species and quantify their influence, which outperforms widely-used indicators like degree in realistic and simulated networks. Furthermore, we demonstrate that networks with high modularity, heterogeneity, biodiversity, and less intimate interactions tend to have larger indirect effects, which are more amenable in predicting decline of biodiversity with the proposed indicator. These findings shed some light onto the influence of apposite biodiversities, paving the way from complex network theory to ecosystem protection and restoration.
Key words: biodiversity / indirect effect / complex network / mutualism
© The Author(s) 2022. Published by China Science Publishing & Media Ltd. and EDP Sciences.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (
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